Les Bowen

STAFF WRITER

Les Bowen has covered the Eagles since 2002. Before that, he covered the Flyers for 13 years. He came to the Daily News from the Charlotte Observer in May 1983, just as the Sixers were winning the NBA championship. He thought, "Gosh, this sort of thing must happen all the time here."

Andy Reid was happy with the result, of course, but was less happy with how his team played to get into a 31-10 hole for more than three quarters.

He called the Eagles’ victory, “one of the all-time great games in NFL history right there."

“For three-plus quarters there, we weren’t very pretty,” Reid said. “That part bothers me as the head football coach. We will go back and learn from our mistakes and get the things that we need to better.”

“We didn’t play very well for three quarters and we need to figure that out. … I’m not sure any of this can sit there and can say we painted a beautiful picture. That’s not where we will be at.”

What Reid was lauding, however, was his team’s determination and poise.

“Those are hard things to coach,” Reid said. “They showed that yesterday, both coaches and players. They all worked together to figure it out and get it right. We were fortunate enough to have time to do that. A big heart, that part’s tough to coach. You either have that or you don’t. This group has that."

Reid, often criticized for his failing to make good adjustments, said among the issues the Eagles are facing is that teams are trying different things to stop Michael Vick, things the Eagles haven't seen them do on tape.

“I think we’re making good adjustments as players and coaches,” Reid said. “I’d like to do that sooner rather than later. We’re getting some unique looks. … It’s hard to put on another tape and see teams do what they do with Michael. They change things up. They throw you a little bit of a curveball so you have to make adjustments.”

The Eagles have allowed 30 passing touchdowns this season, a franchise record.

“That’s an area we have to do better in,” Reid said. “We’ve got some young guys playing in there that week now will get better every week. We try to put them in position to make plays.”

Reid also again criticized himself for not throwing a challenge flag on what was ruled a reception and a DeSean Jackson fumble late in the game.

“That was ridiculous. I should have cut that thing loose,” he said. “We weren’t getting the replays. I’ll look into that too. Some of those were bang-bang shots that were a little tough. Unless you see a replay, it was tough to figure out.” Reid said replays were a problem for the Eagles' coaches in the booth all game long, not just on the Jackson fumble.

Fox's broadcast showed several replays that showed Giants linebacker Jonathan Goff touching Jackson's back as Jackson fell, which should have meant Jackson was down when he hit the turf. The ruling on the field was that Jackson went down untouched.

Injury update:

Rookie safety Nate Allen will most likely have surgery tomorrow for a ruptured patellar tendon with team physician Dr. Peter DeLuca. The injury is expected to end his season.

Wide receiver Jason Avant had a slight concussion suffered on the thunderous block on the punt return that won the game. Reid said “it doesn’t look like it’s too bad. He tested out today and did very well.”

DT Mike Patterson has a sore knee and will have an MRI today. “We’re checking him out.”

Linebacker Stewart Bradley “most likely will not play this week” but is making progress from a dislocated elbow.

Rookie linebacker Keenan Clayton did not play with a hamstring strain and will be a “day-by-day evaluation process there.”

Reid said right tackle Winston Justice is “continuing to make progress. He had a good workout today. We’ll just see how he does with the bull-rush with a hard aggressive push on that leg. Right now, he looks pretty good.”

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One sideline was jubilation; the other was shock.

But when it was all over, Eagles quarterback Michael Vick says, the Giants showed themselves to be poor sports by walking off the field without shaking hands with the Eagles.

"I have a lot of respect for the New York Giants. For them to walk off the field at the end really didn't show good sportsmanship," Vick said, according to the New York Daily News. "They were the ones doing a lot of talking. We just wanted to come out and play a good football game. But I still have a lot of respect for them."

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